FM 25: What do we HOPE for?

[Pezamaria]

On 27/09/2024 at 14:53, alian62 said:

Better stadium sounds or crowd noise . It's been the same boring mono crowd murmers since 2006

In last years game I was in the Championship playoff final and decided to turn on the crowd for the first time in years as surely it’s been improved.

After going 1-0 up and the crowd not caring I then realised it was still awful so it was turned off straight away

[Pezamaria]

For me I’m looking forward to better graphics in the matches. 
 

I also want better advice from staff. I just don’t trust any advice they give me. Like we’ve scored two goals from low crosses in to the box, our strikers arent great in the air….and they’re advising us to float crosses in.

It’s a difficult one as I don’t want it to be a cheat code but I want it to be useful and relevant.

A minor thing but it would also be great if achievements were better mentioned in the media. For instance if you win back to back promotions or go from non-league to Premier League there should be more of a big deal. 

[dosh]

hope to be released without critical bugs within the year.

[dosh]

25.2 or 25.3 major patch to restore missing features

[Bahoi]

That's going to be released.

[Harryhi]

I always felt like Man utd were too good on fm24. They always seem to be title contenders. My big hope for fm25 is that they are realistically rated as a mid table maybe lower table team. 

[XaW]

Calling for SI staff to be sacked is not ok. I've hidden some posts and the moderation team will review and deal with it. But as a reminder, this is not something allowed by the rules of this forum.

[B-Bassic]

Staff AI is a big one for me. 

I'd love to be able to play more as a Head Coach, as part of a functioning team of staff members. Have meetings with the scouting team and discuss what's needed in the upcoming window. Then when those reports come in, pick three of them and have the DoF / Technical Director / A.N. Other go out and try and sign them. 

All of this is pretty much already in the game but  dumb things happen like the DoF will offer wages you absolutely cannot afford or make a transfer deal that will cripple your budget for years. And then you get the sack for it for failing to adhere to the wage budget or whatever.

It's all in there, it just needs refining.

[grade]

I'm keeping my expectations low. I wish just a working game, with the least bugs possible, at this point in time.

[Malicious Penguin]

A lower price given the fact it's going to be a beta version of the new generation.

[jimbo22]

3 hours ago, grade said:

I'm keeping my expectations low. I wish just a working game, with the least bugs possible, at this point in time.

In generally terms my expectations of this are as low as they've every been for a FM release. Just had a look at my playing time for FM games in steam and its fallen off a cliff for recent versions compared to some others. I'll pick this up but I cant see it being that much of a change that those hours go back up. 

[Proz]

I expect a much deep experience in terms of tactics and choices available, a new ME which will be very balanced in terms of the impact of how player attributes impact the game, since phisycal attributes still overpowered compared to mental and technical attributes.

Scouting should be fixed, I think it would make sense to have something less complicate and working as intended.

Interaction with players should be less difficult, since outcome of conversation is often not logical and the micro management behind stuff like tutoring is annoying.

[Malicious Penguin]

4 hours ago, Malicious Penguin said:

A lower price given the fact it's going to be a beta version of the new generation.

£45 says no.

[Javier]

Better AI squad building and player rotation is a must. Also I really hope they don't take away the pre-game editor.

Edited Monday at 17:40 by Javier

[GreatMarinho]

Hope with the New Engine the Simulation Process will be a little faster

[Robioto]

It's already pretty clear that my hopes will not be met with FM2025.

[GSfan]

On 27/09/2024 at 16:53, alian62 said:

Better stadium sounds or crowd noise . It's been the same boring mono crowd murmers since 2006

That's exactly what I hope for. While you're home or away, same murmers, such a boring thing. But no hope for it, because for years developers only care about boring details for new-coming gamers. For instance why don't they do changes for training system, or something else that matters for football, the game. 

[flogside]

A streamlined version of the game akin to older FMs but with good immersion. So, bloatware begone!

I hope it isn't being turned into more of a console game but let's be honest, it kinda feels like it is.

The match engine to be the best we've seen and the AI team building and transfers to be better than previous.

But to be completely honest, I won't be buying/playing it anyway and will possibly wait a few years to see what direction it goes in. My thoughts are it's moving ever further away from what I want to play these days and that's fine, I get it, but I'm older and have less time so.

 

[Kcinnay]

20 hours ago, XaW said:

Calling for SI staff to be sacked is not ok. I've hidden some posts and the moderation team will review and deal with it. But as a reminder, this is not something allowed by the rules of this forum.

My two cents: just like in a football team, we, the fans, provide SI money for a streamlined product. Year by year, the finished product is unfinished. Not unplayable, but... And then there was the clarification: the move to unity. And in 25 years, I've never seen such a meltdown by the fanbase. Either it's a weird promotactic or it's a lackluster product for full price which will be the beginning of the end of the FM games. IMPO, this fanbase is quite polite for, let's say, the board. We should be allowed to vent criticism about human descisions, people in charge. Otherwise we're just free sponsors. Customers need to be kept happy, not with revamp this or that, but with the essence: tactics, training, immersion, graphics. And what do we get? If we get a lackluster product, there won't be need for calling SI top dogs to be sacked - the game will cease to exist. We're slowing in the dark in a state of despair. I'm not a big gamer, but I can't imagine such a shambolic streak of promo, product and customer friendly approach. And SI, swinning in the pool, has mods, for free, who need to keep the roaring crowd in order. If a company can afford it, it could buy out the FM data and create a new game. Or FIFA Manager 06 revival, why not? Still looks better than FM24, 18 years later.

Criticism should be allowed and I guess not even a tiny minority thinks SI headquarters are doing a good job. FOR YEARS! The biggest new feauture was announced, what, four years ago? This is shambolic and I sincerely hope this is not the end of the decent/exquisite FM series. But if the customers lose the right to criticism, the game loses its profits. THE END.

They need to know, hear, read that things are going wrong in an unseen way. Don't go chasing waterfalls, SI. Hire a crisis manager who's actually well spoken, polite, knows the PR stuff. Invest everything you can to make this abysmally announced game (this goes, that disappears etc.; no holiday, cry me a river) as good as it can be. FM25 reminds me of schoolwork. Starting at the last possible moment.

I would not appreciate the removal of this text. In any other profession, customer care would be the priority, not the protection of people who're seriously on the wrong track, with possible catastrophical consequences.

But hey, just a customer. Just a warng: I fear this time there won't be a 'we're used to it'-sale. People are scared, angry or disappointed. Every day without positive communication to us, the source of income, is a disaster. I hope I'm wrong, I hope I'm blown away, but...based on WHAT?

[XaW]

@Kcinnay - I'm not sure why you responded to me with this, as the criticism you post here are fine. I don't see any reason to remove this, and even if I don't agree with everything you say, you have some points.

The reason I posted that post was because some users called for specific persons at SI to lose their jobs. Not criticism of the game, but specifically asking for a person to be let go. Do you see the difference between what you wrote and this? Saying that you think SI are taking the game in the wrong direction and/or saying the communication is not good enough is a perfectly fine criticism without calling for individuals to be sacked!

My biggest issue with your post, and many other in here too, is that you somehow seem to know the game will be bad. I mean, I don't know, you might be right, aside from a few screenshots we know way too little to make any kind of judgement on the game itself. So other than disliking the UI, the only real criticism that I think is ok to give SI about FM25 is that they haven't shared enough information. Anything else is just conjecture and guesswork. It might be correct, but it could also be wrong, neither of us know. I still find it strange that people somehow have decided that this version will be really bad with this little knowledge of... well, anything! We know nothing of the gameplay, the match engine, AI upgrades, etc. And that is the core issue for me, I think SI should be much more open and show things. Now it's just rumours and that doesn't help anyone.

You post also comes across as a woe is me type post and you create a lot of paper tigers just to tear them down, and I don't get it. Why? As I said, you don't know if the game is good or not and posting in here to me like this is the equivalent of screaming at a casheer because the major store chain has changes supplier for milk and your favourite is no longer there. There's not much I can do about your concerns, other than pointing you to the "contact us" form at the bottom of every page, that's where you can contact SI directly. I'm just here to make sure people follow the rules, and they specifically prohibits abuse of individuals like was done here before I removed it.

[Kcinnay]

Hi @XaW, I'd replied specifically to you because couple of weeks ago (after the development update which created chaos), I had written that in a football club (where coaches/managers usually are sacked way too soon), the manager (in this case Miles) would've been sacked years ago - more than implying that knowing nothing now would result in another failed game (compared to the promises from SI itself). And you deleted that post for the reasons you've made clear multiple times. That's why.

The promise of being more clear with the audience starkly contrasting with the sound of silence about something that's shiny new, like your firstborn who you'd like to show to everyone, filled with proud, doesn't bode well. Cancellation after cancellation, mock-ups looking amateuristic as USP atm - if this is a trick, it's either very clever, probably very stupid, but certainly alienating one of the most loyal fanbases in the gaming world ever. Again: all my appreciation for people like you, researchers, who do this for free, just out of love for the game. I'm worried. I hope it's just a PR disaster and that the game will be magnificent. I applaud the integration of women's football, because FM has a social impact. Letting newgens being able to come out as gay is very, very important and yes, I think the integration of women's football is more important than (finally) making international management an interesting feature.

But: it feels like criticism should be very 'cloack and dagger'-y, while I think that the customers are allowed to say that the descicion maker(s) aren't doing a good job. We don't want to lose FM. I want to be wrong, I want to help with my expertise, but I just utter that in the end, we decide (by buying the game or not) whether FM has a future. The chaos now doesn't reflect good management. So I think it may be legite to utter that maybe a fresh breeze at the helm could be for the better, because of multiple reasons being said the past couple of days by other people.

I hope everything will be fine, the concept of adding new features while the game is already out is smart, but... Yeah, I'm worried and I'd love to be proven wrong. I don't think it'll be a failure. I fear. But I hope.

[XaW]

Listen @Kcinnay, I don't like removing posts or giving people infractions in here. But being a moderator means we need to make sure people follow the rules. I've removed posts I technically agree with before because they contained explicit language and that is against the rules, just to give an example. Calling for the people at SI to lose their jobs is not allowed, that's a rule and whatever you might think about that rule doesn't really matter, as you have accepted to abide by those terms by using this forum. If you don't, well, that's then the moderation part comes in.

If you say that you think SI are heading in the wrong direction with the game, that's a perfectly fine criticism to have, especially if you give a well thought out reason for why and what direction you would like to see. Some people might agree, others will disagree and both are perfectly fint to do so. By this you are giving criticism to the people who make this decision, but you are not calling for heads to fall, you are asking them to change direction. And if they don't, well, they don't and if they do something you don't like, you can only one thing, stop buying the game.

I've had several other franchises I've left due to them changing up the games to a point where I don't enjoy them anymore, and if FM does the same, I would also say goodbye here. Sometimes decisionmakers at companies make the wrong call, and we can't do anything about it if we are not listened to.

Now, I hope SI will make a great game, but so far we know next to nothing about what FM25 will be. We can guess and make up things, but other than a few UI shots that might be mockups, we haven't seen anything substantial yet, so we have very little grounds to decide.

Also to play the devil's advocate here, I think FM are selling more copies than it has ever done before, so if you look at it from that point of view SI are doing better than ever. Why would they change the course they are on if they do what they think is the right thing AND they are selling more copies than ever? Sure, perhaps there are some small vocal voices like yours, but at what metric are you judging them? Your own view of the game? That's a rather subjective one. You claim the game is worse and worse, but the sales point otherwise.

Now, I feel we might have highjacked this thread enough, so perhaps we should continue this on a PM and let the thread return to the game itself and not managing decisions, no?

[samrnpage]

All  I want is the game to keep its difficulty. I worry that with the new console players , who are more "instant gratification" type players that they make the game far too easy. I want better AI managers, more realistic and difficult transfers etc

[jimbo22]

On 28/09/2024 at 14:11, forameuss said:

that tells me there's probably more (or less) to it.

Im mean, SI could tell us the reason we dont do it is X, whats stopping them other than they simply just dont care to tell the reason. The stadiums have been a joke for years in the game. They look horrible, stadiums in Italy dont look like the ones in England and so on and so forth. The game is just a bland looking bore fest graphically. 

[dannyo666]

A working game,-Thas not a joke....after FM24,FM25is going to have to be truly amazing to get trust back from customers after the whole""FM 24 will be the most complete version yet"...All the broken promises around lots of new features that did not work that were sent in and logged as bugs only to never materialize......Even aul faithful scouting did not work correctly. which blows my mind as this is SI main draw-The vastness DB of info on players all around the world is amazing ....People are saying FM25 is going to be rubbish which is fine and their opinion but please SI don't try to polish a turd like in 24.....I like how cautious SI are on 25 news,dont get peoples hopes up-Noting worse than paying hard cash for a product that did not do what it said on the tin,i cannot see FM25 to be anything more than trial run for 26 but please agian dont make promises/new features that will be broken..I hope 25 is amazing but over the last few years something is just not right with this game

[jimbo22]

15 minutes ago, dannyo666 said:

A working game,-Thas not a joke....after FM24,FM25is going to have to be truly amazing to get trust back from customers after the whole""FM 24 will be the most complete version yet"

Im not sure its that serious. FM24 by all accounts has had the largest player base ever, from what we've heard. There's a part of the game base that will feel that way but I see pictures on social media all the time from the like of FM24 and this surprises me, they havent installed things like logos, player pics, name fixes etc. That says to me there's a HUGE amount of people that install the base game and just have at it. 

I've no doubts that FM25 will sell and sell well. 

[Weller1980]

I'm old enough to remember the transition from Text to the 2d engine and it was messy, I hope for a smoother transition and a playable game with a balanced game engine. Oh and gegenpressing to be better balanced. 

[kiwityke1983]

11 hours ago, Weller1980 said:

I'm old enough to remember the transition from Text to the 2d engine and it was messy, I hope for a smoother transition and a playable game with a balanced game engine. Oh and gegenpressing to be better balanced. 

All the big engine changes have been messy that first year from text to 2D and then from 2D to 3D.

As for what I'm hoping for FM25 it's that we get the same core FM game loop as we've always gotten, which let's be honest is so satisfying and pretty much unparalleled in terms of sports management games, with slightly better graphics than we got previously.

[dannyo666]

19 hours ago, jimbo22 said:

Im not sure its that serious. FM24 by all accounts has had the largest player base ever, from what we've heard. There's a part of the game base that will feel that way but I see pictures on social media all the time from the like of FM24 and this surprises me, they havent installed things like logos, player pics, name fixes etc. That says to me there's a HUGE amount of people that install the base game and just have at it. 

I've no doubts that FM25 will sell and sell well. 

It had the numbers for sure but how many of these were console?Because the screens weve been showed look like games going to cater to those console players....As for PC FM24 really silly things are still in there that were all logged as bugs a year ago....Mods/downloads etc help no end but still the vanilla is so off........I can get over new engine blips as it is year one on unity but the screens look like a dumbed down FM for console version.......

[jimbo22]

27 minutes ago, dannyo666 said:

It had the numbers for sure but how many of these were console?Because the screens weve been showed look like games going to cater to those console players....As for PC FM24 really silly things are still in there that were all logged as bugs a year ago....Mods/downloads etc help no end but still the vanilla is so off........I can get over new engine blips as it is year one on unity but the screens look like a dumbed down FM for console version.......

There's ZERO doubt that the new interface is built the way it is for Console/Mobile devices. None at all it cant even be debated. Now why they couldnt design a dumbed down UI for Console and Mobile and release a fuller one for PC/Mac I dont know, there's no reason for it other than SI just do things there way and it doesnt matter at all what others think.

I had a look through steam the other day and looked at screenshots of a bunch of the older FM's and the skins are absolutely horrific. Ive attached a pic of fm19, what were they thinking? Their art direction has been just awful for years.

 

 

[sthptngomad76]

18 hours ago, jimbo22 said:

There's ZERO doubt that the new interface is built the way it is for Console/Mobile devices. None at all it cant even be debated. Now why they couldnt design a dumbed down UI for Console and Mobile and release a fuller one for PC/Mac I dont know, there's no reason for it other than SI just do things there way and it doesnt matter at all what others think.

I had a look through steam the other day and looked at screenshots of a bunch of the older FM's and the skins are absolutely horrific. Ive attached a pic of fm19, what were they thinking? Their art direction has been just awful for years.

 

 

I've often considered the FM19 default skin as the worst of at least the last twenty years. It's absolutely hideous, and to this day I struggle to play with it

[StormenDK]

I hope for the following:

- Better match engine. Obviously. But not just better like a little bit, but a lot better.

- Better graphics. Especially in match. Players, stadiums etc.

- Easier moddable game. I hope that more stuff than just some UI and database bits can be modded.

- LOts of imporvements "under the hood". Things like better AI management, Player interactions/behaviour etc.

- Women's football being a fun experience on level with the men's  game. No watered down functionality.

I doubt there would be much more than that.

This year is a transistion year, where stuff that used to work is moved to the new engine, and stuff that didn't are removed.

So it might be a rough launch with loads of bugs, and that the year will be mostly fixes.

I will see how things look on release before deciding to buy. But I think SI made the right decision to move engine, and it had to happen at some time. Might as well be done this year. They wouldn't be able to continue development on two engines anyways.

[Domoboy23]

Some method of injecting feisty/dirtiness into a match. For example, a bad tackled and red card setting off a melee or further bad tackles as retribution in games etc. The match environment (bar goals) has been sterile for many years. I'm not saying lets have people hit each other, but remembering and targeting an opposition player because 4 months ago he went through your striker and kicked off tussle which resulted in your own striker being sent off (and others carded) would be cool.

[James Gayman]

It would be great to see Feyenoord's new training complex in the game ( Training complex 1908 ) It was builded in 2017 and it was handed to feyenoord in 2018...So it would be great if Varkenoord and Training complex 1908 would be both in the game...

[busngabb]

I want the match engine to be more instructive than the current one is. Let's face it, it's almost completely random and you can't watch the game and spot what's going on and what to change. I also want the graphics to be passable and not poorly animated. It's very worrying that we've seen nothing of this yet. Hopefully it's a big surprise and a massive step up on the previous game, but we won't know until we see it and you'd think that would be the big push in terms of marketing and promoting the development of the new game and we've seen nothing.

I want the transfers to be more realistic. Club's would simply not allow an inexperienced manager, new to the club, to sign 10+ players in a season, seven of them wonderkids and the other three on big fees spread over three year installments. It just wouldn't happen. The squad builder should be a fundamental part of the pre-season plan and you should largely have to stick to what they agree. I.e need a first team keeper, right back and striker, and a backup CDM. You should then be able to sign those players up to your budget. You want a wonderkid from Bogota and three from Thailand? You have to approach the board for that as depending on your reputation, board and fan popularity etc you get denied it. You can then have the narratives around fans complaining that the manager isn't being backed by the board and make it more realistic.

On the game as it is now, a club like Everton can have Inacio, Yamal, Wirtz, Simons, Endrick, Neves, Mainoo, Emery, Gavi, Camavinga etc within about three years. Not a chance a single one of those happens in real life.

[Domoboy23]

1 hour ago, busngabb said:

I want the match engine to be more instructive than the current one is. Let's face it, it's almost completely random and you can't watch the game and spot what's going on and what to change. I also want the graphics to be passable and not poorly animated. It's very worrying that we've seen nothing of this yet. Hopefully it's a big surprise and a massive step up on the previous game, but we won't know until we see it and you'd think that would be the big push in terms of marketing and promoting the development of the new game and we've seen nothing.

I want the transfers to be more realistic. Club's would simply not allow an inexperienced manager, new to the club, to sign 10+ players in a season, seven of them wonderkids and the other three on big fees spread over three year installments. It just wouldn't happen. The squad builder should be a fundamental part of the pre-season plan and you should largely have to stick to what they agree. I.e need a first team keeper, right back and striker, and a backup CDM. You should then be able to sign those players up to your budget. You want a wonderkid from Bogota and three from Thailand? You have to approach the board for that as depending on your reputation, board and fan popularity etc you get denied it. You can then have the narratives around fans complaining that the manager isn't being backed by the board and make it more realistic.

On the game as it is now, a club like Everton can have Inacio, Yamal, Wirtz, Simons, Endrick, Neves, Mainoo, Emery, Gavi, Camavinga etc within about three years. Not a chance a single one of those happens in real life.

And yet on mine, they quite often end up in the Championship, crippled with debt from the new stadium. That's the beauty of the game and Football IRL. There's infinite possibilities. I'm presuming on yours, they stayed in the prem and are now getting huge attendances at the new stadium and this is also coupled with continental qualification and reputation?

On another note, another addition I'm keen to see is the ability to see a prospective employing Chairperson stats (patience etc) as in real-like you'd get knowledge from this from forums, news articles and history whereas in game you'd only have historical sackings to go from. Unless you're very in-the-loop and immersed in the wider game world which  hasn't been possible for myself personally (through one reason or another, news delivery etc) for quite a few years.